


Somewhere, beyond the sea.

by Demon_Cookie101



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Friendships aw ye, Merstuck, octopus!feferi, thresher!eridan
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-24
Updated: 2016-12-24
Packaged: 2018-09-11 20:57:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,634
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9022435
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Demon_Cookie101/pseuds/Demon_Cookie101
Summary: Secret Santa for lightingupthereef! Hope you enjoy it!





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Lightingupthereef](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=Lightingupthereef).



You know you’re not supposed to be out this far.

You know it very well, and you’re a little bit scared, but mostly you’re just -EXCIT-ED!! You haven’t had a chance to go exploring like this in a long time!

The last time you went exploring away from the safe (and beautiful!) coral cavern of your home, your mother found you stuck in the seemingly endless twisting tunnels of a cave that had looked so small! You had been scolded for that, but your mama is just a worrier! She likes to think that only bad things will happen, which you think is utterly silly!

Which is why you’re out exploring again. Your mama is out doing some sort of treaty thingy (you got to help choose her jewellery, and she even let you have one of the little rings that go on the end of your tentacles. Your mama’s are a lot longer than yours, but that’s just because she’s old and you’re not), and the guards weren’t really looking as you squeezed your way through the small window in the top spiral of your rooms and swam off. The guards are all fast swimmers, but you have eight extra limbs to one-up their measly two! Tails totally don’t count as limbs, in your opinion.

You chose a different direction to swim in this time, heading west instead of east and swimming for what feels like ages. You know that you shouldn’t be out this far, but everything is all new and interesting!

There’s not as much coral. You live under a pretty large amount of coral that your mother made into her palace, and not seeing so much of it weirds you out a little. There’s rocks and kelp and lots and lots of sand, but not much else.

You almost decide to turn back, because there isn’t really anything interesting out here, and you don’t want to get into _too_ much trouble. There’s a weird shape in the distance that doesn’t look like rocks, and turning back becomes an afterthought as you draw closer to it.

It looks like a ship. One of those big creaky wooden ones that the humans use to move around on the ocean because their limbs are useless and floppy.

This one is broken in bits, and you find that you can juuuuust squeeze through one of the portholes to get in at the front. Sure, you could have gone through the sides, but you want to explore it tip top to bottom!

Unfortunately, the front doesn’t have anything interesting it in. It looks like there’s some cannonballs, and what looks like it should have been rope before the water got to it. You wonder how long this boat has been down here, if everything’s so degraded.

You can’t lift one of the balls with your hands, but you find that if you wrap all arms around it, you can carry it a short distance. You bet your mama can carry all six of these cannonballs with no trouble.

The ball falls from your grasp with a soft ‘thwump’ noise, and you sigh in exasperation before turning to head through one of the doorways to keep exploring.

You didn’t find anything through the middle of the boat. Several areas were caved in, and really the most interesting thing was a faded sign (what weird letters! Well, you assume they’re letters) and some more cannonballs. You gave up looking in depth, and just try to get to the back so that you can start heading home. Normally, there’s interesting things kept in the hold and the captain’s quarters of ships. That’s what your mama told you, and she’s always right.

So that’s where you go. You checked, and it was still day out, so you’re still pretty good to have a last look before you really should start getting back.

The door is jammed for what appears to be the captain’s quarters. When you jiggle the weird looking handle, there’s some sort of weird noise, but it stops by the time you stop with the door. You wonder if there’s anything in that room that will be worth your while. Probably not, but hey, at least you can say you left no bit of this ship unturned! You’re being thorough, like how your mama always said to be.

So you back yourself up and ram the door down. If it’s not going to open nicely, you’ll break it down.

You hear a shriek and then a thud while you’re still tumbling through the leftover floating bits of half-rotted wood. You thought it was just your fins reacting to the noise and creating more sounds (that’s happened before. You hear voices in the deep waters under the palace sometimes), but when you finally stop rolling over and over and over and free the little bits of debris from your hair, you realise that you are, in fact, not alone.

He looks around your age if his fins are anything to go by, and his eyes are so big you look like you’ve just come face to face with a giant squid.

He’s half propped up on his elbows, gills flaring and gulping down water and his tail (so looonnng!) is trapped under… whatever that is.

His fins are purple, and so are the markings on his body.

You’ve never seen a young shark before, because all the guards are old.

You realise that you’ve just been staring at him (he’s staring at you too), and your hands automatically go to fiddle with your hair. “I uh… I like your jewellery.” Is what you say, though really you meant to ask if he was _okay_.

His expression turns indignant and he hisses out a multitude of bubbles at you. “Y’ made me drop a heavy ass chest on my tail, then pr’ceed t’ just stare at me and all you say is, you like my jewellery?” You huff at him, rolling your eyes. “Well! I haven’t seen a fish like you before! And your jewellery is pretty. Almost as good as mine.” You’re covered in a bit more gold than he is, but the rings one his hands _are_ very pretty. You want them.

You propel yourself closer, tucking your hands (And a couple of tentacles for help) under the chest and heave it off of him. He immediately grabs his tail, curling up on himself a little and checking it all over with this silly worried expression. “I thought sharks were stronger?”  
“We are.” He snaps, all grumpy fins and pouts. His horns are sharp, all of him is sharp. It’s so different from you.

You wonder whether he’s proper royalty as well?

“I’m just checkin’ that it’s not broken or damaged or anythin’. I’m not supposed to be out here.” His fins darken a little, and he glances at you like he expects you to swim off and tattle. Silly buoy. Instead, you smile. “Me either! My mama’s out at a meeting, I snuck out.”  
He blinks at you, his brow furrowed low. He’s got these weird little spots over his face, and you’re always so interested in pretty things, you can’t help but lean closer to look. He’s so weird and different to what you’re used to!

He leans away from you and huffs, fins colouring and flattening against his hair. “Don’t you know anythin’ about personal space?”  
You laugh at him, but not really in a ‘ha ha you’re silly’ way. More… just for the sake of laughing. You like the sound of laughter, it can be so rare back home.  
“Shore-y, buoy. You’re so different! All the sharks back home are old and grumpy and in armour and always standin’ guard.” He rolls his eyes and resettles himself in what looks to be a more comfortable way.  
“They’re pro’lly all whites or tigers or those grumpy ones that are sooo borin’. I’m much better than all of them. For starters, I’m not some kin’a _guard_.” He sneers the word like it’s below him, but his fins tilt a little and his frown looks a little too practiced. He must be royalty then, but you haven’t met him before.

Though, your mama doesn’t really like people meeting you. They always get so showy and try to impress you and your mother. It is a little silly.

“Who are you, then, if you’re not some guard? I haven’t seen you before, but maybe I’ll know your name. My mama has a lotta connections throughout the sea. She’s the empress!”

His fins flatten completely then, and he just stares at you with that same wide eyed squid-y look. It’s kinda… cute? Funny? You don’t have enough words for it.

So you laugh again and settle yourself on the lid of the chest. “So?” He seems to snap out of his daze, crossing his arms over his chest and flicking his head to get a curl of hair out of his eyes. “Eridan Ampora. My father works for your mother, and is probably still in the meetin’ with her.” You have heard the name, ‘Ampora’, before, but you never knew there was a kid! You always thought it was just the grumpy old scary shark who always seemed to appear out of shadows and scare you.

“I’m Feferi.” You say, instead of mentioning how scary his dad is, and how… not scary he looks. He’s all thin and streamlined and his tail is sooooo long.

He nods like he already knows, shifting a little and glancing down at the chest you’re sitting on. You look down as well, because it’s something and there’s gotta be a reason he was trapped under it, right?  
“So…. What is this thing? What’s in it?” You look back up at him as you slide down the side and reach for the latches.  
“Wait! Don’t!” He darts forward to grab your hands, but you’ve already pulled the catch. The lid falls off, the wood having rotted away. Inside there’s… not much, really.

You were expecting gold or jewels. Instead you get… a bunch of dirty looking stones. Eridan stares down at it, picking a few up and turning them over in his hands. He looks pretty happy, actually, over a couple of stones.  
You stare at him. “… rocks?”  
“These are geodes. They have pretty stones inside’a them. Lot’s’a jewellers make cool stuff outta the stones. I want some more rings, see?” He wiggles at hand at you, reaching for a seaweed bag that you hadn’t previously noticed and starts piling them in. The hand in your face has only a few rings on, and those are actually some pretty stones. You push his hand out of your face, peering down at the chest to see if there’s anything else.

“I was sorta hopin’ for somethin’ else.” He says, and you look back up at him curiously.  
He’s holding the bag against his chest, and shifts to balance precariously on the edge of the chest. “Last time I found a ship, there were still books in it. One’s that the water hadn’t gotten too. I like books. These stones are good, but I would have liked books.” He shrugs, looking around the empty space again.

“Books are so borin’ though. You’ve gotta go up to air to read them and none of them are interesting or have any cool stories. I think the stones are cool enough.” You look back into the chest, hoping to see one that he hasn’t picked up so that you can take it back with you. It would be a much cooler souvenir than some dinky old cannonball!

“Well…” His fins are darkening again, flicking around as he picks at the seaweed. “I like the books. What’s in them. It’s interestin’. Everyone back home thinks I’m silly though.” He frowns at you like you’re about to laugh at him again, but you’re not! You know what it’s like to get laughed at. One of the maids laughed at you when you said you were going to explore the ocean.

You still don’t like thinking about the feeling in your tummy that you got when she laughed. Eridan looks like he’s used to it.

“I don’t think it’s funny. Books are boring, but maybe you have some good ones. I like stones and ornaments more though. I can have them in my room then!” You offer, patting him on the shoulder carefully. Most sharks don’t like being touched, for some reason, but they never tell you why. Eridan narrows his eyes at you and frowns slightly.

Actually… that’s starting to look like his normal expression.

You zone out a little thinking over why he’s always frowning. Kids should be smiling! Right? You like smiling, even though some people get a little scared by your teeth.

You wonder again why you’ve never seen him before, but you don’t get to think about it too often before there’s something in your hand.

Eridan’s not looking at you, and his fins are violet again as he frowns at the other wall. There’s a rock in your hand, cradled by your fingers.  
You smile at Eridan, and you can just tell your fins are wiggling. They always do when you’re happy.

He goes even violet-er and looks away. “No use you goin’ all the way out here and returnin’ empty handed, right? Maybe you can turn the stone into jewellery.” His fins are wiggling a little as well.

You decide not to mention it.

“Do you go out and find stuff often?”  
Eridan nods, glancing at you. “I can take care of myself, so my dad lets me go out. But not too far. We only live over the next two coral beds from here.”  
“I live ages, that way.” You gesture randomly, not actually sure which direction it is from where you’re sitting. “I should probably start swimming home soon. Mama might be done with her meeting.”  
He nods, pushing himself to float and adjust the bag around his shoulders better. He looks around like he’s trying to figure out how to get out of where you both are, but you’re not too sure.

“Can I come with you when you go out next? I want to explore more.”  
He looks at you, frowny again, but there’s something else too. Does he have friends?  
“Your mother…”  
“She will be happy with it! She always says I need to go places with a guard, but if _you’re_ with me she might be okay with it! Your dad is pretty feared, isn’t he.” Eridan puffs up like you knew he would, pride seeming to come, if only for a second, from every part of him before he folds himself back into how he was before.  
“He is.”  
There’s another beat of silence, before you sigh and swim out of the window into the open sea again, the stone in your hand. Eridan follows you.  
“So?”  
“I don’t know...” His fins are titled funny, so you don’t think he’s going to need much convincing.  
“I can ask my mama, and then you can come and we can go explorin’ and find more funny rocks and silly books and treasure!”

He smiles and you grin right back. Yes! He can smile!

You glance up at the surface far above you, frowning a little. “Mama will be worried, it’s getting late. We’ll go exploring another time, okay?”  
He hesitates, but nods. “… Okay.”

He doesn’t swim off immediately when you do, instead just staying there in front of the broken old ship until the shadows swallow him up.

You hope you see him again. Eridan with his silly books and funny stones and pretty rings and fins and tiny smile.

You just know you’re going to be good friends!

**Author's Note:**

> Feferi: octopus  
> Eridan: Thresher Shark  
> both are roughly 10 human years


End file.
